


In the dark of the Night

by Mei1395



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Blood, Broken Noses, Graphic Description of Corpses, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Soul Stealing, he deserved it tho, it's kinda disgusting?, makeout session with a monster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:47:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29946753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mei1395/pseuds/Mei1395
Summary: The people are terrified. Children are ripped from windows by their parents at night as a being of unnatural origin claims a new life each night. Luckily, a group of displaced heroes just happen to visit their small town right on time.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37





	In the dark of the Night

“The beast prowls the streets at night, waiting for an unsuspecting victim to wander into its sight!” the frightened man described his tale to the three men sitting in front of him. “The people are terrified! No one is willing to leave their homes nowadays. Those who dare are found dead by the next morn’, looking as though they have been sucked dry!”

Time’s face was unreadable as he listened to the man. They had just arrived in this Hyrule the day before and were able to locate the nearest settlement rather quickly. However, when they arrived at the town’s gates, the group was met not with bustling streets with merchants calling out for people to buy their wares but with an eerily silent town. The guards at the gates were on edge and even strongly advised to seek another settlement for rest.

“There’s another settlement not a day’s walk south from here. Maybe you should seek rest there. It’d be safer for all of you,” he told them. When asked for the reason however, the man refused to indulge them any longer and sent them on their way, seeing the stubbornness in the leader’s eyes. They were pointed towards an inn – the White Swan – near the center by a lone citizen where they finally found some answers.

“How long has this been happening now?” Sky asked from where he was sitting to Time’s right together with Warriors at a table in one of the more secluded corners of the inn. Apparently, no one was quite comfortable to have conversation about this beast while in the open. Possibly believing that speaking its name and deeds out loud would summon it and paint a target on their back.

“I’d say for about a month. No one is sure when it started. Bodies are not an unusual sight to find at morning, especially when the nights grow colder,” The man grumbled quietly. “Goddesses know there are enough without a home to return to in this town. Or there used to be. They are all dead now.”

Warriors scowled. “How has the royal family not sent any aid? This seems to be something the King should be concerned about.”

The man scoffed, glaring at the table as though it was at fault. “The King doesn’t care. Do you think we haven’t requested aid? He’s got bigger things to worry about. Like which unfortunate lass he will coerce into warming his bed at night while her majesty is away on business. And our own guards – Hylia bless them – they have tried to protect us. But their swords and spears were useless. Those who survived that attack now cower in fear in their homes, refusing to come out even at daylight.”

He shook his head sadly. Had he looked up, he would have seen the darkening looks of the group, two of them being all too familiar on how nobles, especially the royal family, liked to behave in times of supposed peace. No one had claimed this Hyrule when they arrived, so it was safe to say that they had ended up somewhere between their respective time. The portal could have easily dumped them anywhere in Hyrule’s long history and the royal family didn’t only consist of benevolent rulers such as those the heroes knew of their homes. Many crimes had been condoned and carefully hidden away from public eye by the Sheikah. The Shadow temple as well as the Arbiter’s Grounds immediately came to mind.

Time quietly stood and thanked the man for his time when it became clear that he was done talking about this, careful not to startle any of the already on edge inhabitants of the room. Sky and Warriors followed him up the stairs to their rented rooms where the other had agreed to wait for them with Twilight basically agreeing to babysit the wilder members of their group. And no, it was absolutely no punishment for letting Wild and Wind almost burn all of their collective belongings while playing around with fire arrows and Legend’s fire rod the other day.

Six pairs of eyes looked up from whatever everyone was doing as the trio entered the room, the question clear in the air despite no one speaking it out loud.

“So, whatever we’re dealing with here has been terrorizing the people for some time now. We don’t know if it’s connected with the Shadow or not though. It hunts at night so that’s our best bet of finding it.”

The others listened attentively as Time retold what the man downstairs had spoken about.

“So what,” Legend drawled. “We got some monster that’s killing people every night by sucking them dry?”

Time nodded. “It certainly seems so.”

“From what we’ve gathered, it only goes after people that are alone and seemingly only attacks a single person a night,” Warriors told them. “We have no idea of its hunting strategy, so our best chance right now would be to split into pairs and see if we can find it. No one is going alone.”

The pairs were quickly organized and all the group of heroes needed to do now was wait for night to fall. Twilight stood at the window in the room he shared with his mentor and protégé, watching the few people lingering on the streets cast nervous glances around them as they hurried to get their business done and get back home. He scowled. This sight reminded him of Castle Town during his Quest, when the veil of Twilight had settled over the land, trapping the people as bodyless spirits hovering about. Aware to the everlasting feeling of plain wrongness in the air but never quite knowing of _why_ they felt this way. It brought forth his own uneasiness whenever he first stepped into the Twilight Realm and made his skin crawl as though he was covered in invisible insects constantly squirming about.

It wouldn’t be the first time.

Behind him Wild sat on the bed, busying his hands with fiddling with his slate. Twilight could practically feel the restlessness coming off the teen in waves. If the whole situation was making him uneasy, Twilight could only imagine how much worse it was for the younger hero. Time had stepped out a while ago, unwilling to deal with the anxiety of both, his pup and his cub. The others had also dispersed into their respective shared rooms to get at least some shut eye before heading out. He wondered it they were as successful as him and Wild.

“If one would mix red potion and poison, would it heal you or kill you?”

…

What.

His thoughts screeched to a halt at once, crashing and turning into a brunt wreck as a stunned Twilight turned away from the window to fix Wild with an incredulous stare. “Wild, what-?”

The younger hero himself looked equally stunned, as though he hadn’t meant to speak out loud. And sure enough, a slight tint of red seemed to be already covering his cheeks. But he recovered quickly. “No, seriously. What do you think would happen?”

Disbelief at the seemingly random question couldn’t even be used to describe what Twilight was feeling any longer. Truth to be told, it was a good question. But this had to be the most inappropriate time to ask something like that. “I… I don’t…What?”

The ranch hand wasn’t given the chance to recover his scattered mind as the door opened and Time stuck his head back in to tell them to get ready. The older man’s eyebrows rose at the awkward atmosphere that now replaced the former tension, thought for a second and seemingly decided he didn’t want to know and backed out of the room. Twilight and Wild quickly regained their composures and followed their de facto leader back down the stairs, where the others had already gathered. The innkeeper, seeing the group ready to head out had come over to try and convince them to stay inside. The plump woman looked beside herself with worry for their wellbeing.

“Please sirs, it is far to dangerous outside. I must insist you stay. Surely you have heard of what is happening to those that venture outside at night.”

“There’s no need to worry, ma’am,” The Captain tried to reassure her. “There’s nine of us and I dare say we can handle ourselves quite well.”

While Warriors continuously shot down her arguments, Four slid up to Twilight. “What do you think it is?” he asked quietly. “I’ve never heard of any monster behaving like this. At least, not in my own time.”

The ranch hand shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe its something the Shadow created.”

The smallest of the group looked doubtful. The two of them were paired together for this and Twilight was quietly relieved. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to work with any of the others but Four at least seemed like the person to not rush headfirst into things. Well, most of his personality.

They headed out the door, paying no mind to the Innkeepers quiet mutters of “They must be mad. The lot of ‘em.”

“Now remember,” Time told them. “Don’t run off alone, don’t die and if you see the monster, give the signal. Any questions?”

He nodded at their collective headshake. “Good, stay safe everyone.”

With that, the group dispersed. Time with Wild, Sky with Legend, Twilight with Four and Warriors with Hyrule and Wind. The last rays of sunshine were disappearing behind the tiled roofs and in the distance, the gate of the town could be heard as it was closed. The pairs patrolled around Town, occasionally meeting a mall squad of Soldiers who gave them strange looks when passing but said nothing. They carefully watched their surroundings, listening to anything that might sound inhuman and looking for any trace of this monster. 

The hours passed by and nothing happened. Legend and Sky were just turning down a dark alleyway when they heard it. A cut off scream followed a heavy thump. The two heroes shared a glance and drew their swords as they hurried down the cobblestone street. Three pairs of red glowing eyes met theirs as the pair rounded another corner and skidded to a stop.

There was the monster, hovering over the prone body of what looked to have been a Hylian once. Black fur was covering its body, a long tail laying curled behind it on the street. Its body took the vague shape of a wolf mixed with a human, only thinner and with elongated legs and no visible ears. It also looked to be starving. Even in the dim light of a torch, one could make out the ragged appearance of the beast. Each rip was laid bare beneath the tight skin. The spine created small spikes on its back. Its long snout drew back into a terrifying snarl as it rightened itself to stand on two legs, revealing a set of awfully long and pointy teeth. Sharp claws reflected the weak moonlight. Legend stuck his fingers into mouth and gave one long and high whistle, hopefully loud enough for the others to hear.

The monster gave a furious shriek that rattled their bones and attacked though Sky quickly shook of the roar’s effects and met the monster halfway. The light of the Master Sword gleamed in the dark night as it met with angry claws, but the Hero of the Skies quickly found himself overpowered as he was shoved backwards and then went flying with a flick of the dark Tail, sharp spikes he hadn’t seen adorned the tail and buried themselves into his side, making him cry out even as Legend rushed to his aid. The monster was still preoccupied with the older Hero that it didn’t notice when the Veteran managed to get past its defense and swiped his blade across its side. However the cut, while long, wasn’t very deep and the he too was sent flying, crashing into the wall next to the first hero. He cursed as he tried to get back his bearings before the snarling mass of fur could attack once more.

Several sets of footsteps entered his hearing range and an arrow met its mark in the monsters shoulder. It cried out as it turned towards the new arrivals, even more enraged now. It growled as it spied seven heavily armed men, weapons drawn and ready to attack standing at the alleys entrance. Wild, who had shot the arrow, already had his bowstring drawn back with another arrow held between his fingertips. The monster realized its chances of killing them all were dwindling and chose a quick retreat. It evaded the second projectile seemingly easy and managed to dodge everyone’s swords by jumping high up on the nearest roof, sending heavy ceramic tiles raining down on the men.

“Are you two alright?” Hyrule rushed over to their fallen comrades even as Wind cursed in the background, followed by a halfhearted reprimand from one of the others, possibly Twilight.

“A little beat up but we’ll live. Sky’s bleeding though,” Legend told him and got back to his feet and offered a hand to Sky, who took it and heaved himself up with his help. His side was stained with blood. It wasn’t much, but Hyrule still insisted to take a look at it.

Meanwhile, Warriors kneeled at the corpse’s side to examine it. The person seemed to have been female, but the man at the inn had been right in his description. The skin looked dried out, straining over every single bone. It reminded him of something that used to be common practice amongst the Sheikah, a practice where the person starved themselves to death to show their dedication to their Goddess. Her mouth was wide open as though she had tried to scream but couldn’t. He had never seen a monster with such an ability, however.

“It can’t have gone far,” he heard Time’s voice in the background. “see if you two can find any trace of it. We’ll catch up.” Two pairs of steps quickly left the alley.

“It’s not infected,” Legend told Time and showed him the thin trail of blood still on his sword. “So definitely not connected to the Shadow. I don’t think anyone of us has ever met something like this before though.”

Wind went over to Warriors, giving the corpse a wary glance, looking slightly green in the face. “We need to go after it. I don’t think we should give it any more chances to feed. It doesn’t really eat the victim, so it’s taking something else from the bodies.”

“It’s taking their souls.” All heads snapped over to Hyrule, who had finished treating Sky’s wound and was now hovering near the body. “I can sense people’s life forces. Or auras if you want to call it that. Usually, when someone dies there’s still some of it lingering in the body shortly after its death. It takes time for a soul to move on to the next world. But when I look at this body, there’s just… nothing.”

Meanwhile, Twilight in wolf form and Four raced down another road, following the scent of the monster. Every now and then, Four was leaving small marks at walls, making sure the others knew what path to follow. They couldn’t hear, nor see the monster anywhere but the scent of blood stood out against the usual smells of a Hylian settlement, so it was quite easy for Twilight to follow the path. The pair followed it into the backyard of an old, abandoned house at the edge of town where it suddenly stopped. Confused, Twilight transformed back and overlooked the scene. “What now?” Four asked from beside him, looking slightly out of breath. “I don’t know. The scent just stopped.”

“Well, it must have gone somewhere. Let’s look around.” The smaller hero examined the town’s wall, no doubt wondering if it had leapt over it to get away.

While the smithy continued to look around outside, Twilight carefully entered the house. It looked worse from the inside than it did from the outside. Many of the windows were boarded shut, the doors either hanging from their frames or gone completely. The floor was mostly rotten. The second floor had broken away at some parts, letting in the little bit of moonlight managing to shine through dirty, broken windows. The house was big, no doubt once belonging to someone richer than most folks. He briefly wondered why it was empty. Sword drawn, he carefully stepped around the worst of the wreckage, room to room, trying to be as silent as possible to not give his position away. He stilled as something creaked above him. He chanced a glance upwards.

There was nothing there. On the second floor then?

Twilight spotted a set of stairs. They were worn and would possibly not be able to hold his weight. He held his breath and moved forward. It seemed even the sounds of the night stayed clear of this place. His heart pounded so very loud in his ears. His right hand ran over the banister, noticing the various scratches adorning the wood. Something moved in his peripheral vision and he whirled around, stance set.

Nothing. He bit back a growl. That thing was playing with him. He knew it was here.

The ranch hand considered leaving and waiting for the others. He wasn’t sure what the monster was capable of, so it was risky of him coming in here alone. But Four was right outside so surely he’d hear if something were to happen.

The sound of wood cracking caught his attention and Twilight had a split second to dodge as the heavy wooden beam came crashing thought the remains of the second floor, falling down in a rain of splinters and dust right where he was standing not a second ago. This seemed to cause a chain reaction as more and more of the second floor came raining down on him, making the hero scramble to get out of the way and get hit by any of the falling debris. He pressed himself to the nearest wall underneath what seemed to be one of the most stable parts of the room and had to cough violently as dust and dirt was thrown up in the air, obscuring his already poor vision even further. The crashing and creaking of the house seemed to go on for minutes until finally, the last pieces came to rest amongst the wreckage. His coughing fit hadn’t quite left as he distantly heard Four call out to him.

He was just about to call back when he noticed movement reflected in the metal of his blade. His heart stopped a beat and he whirled around to face the monster that was just waiting to pounce on him from above. He was just a split second too late as the furry mass of muscle and flesh crashed into him, claws first and brought him down, cutting off his pained cry as his back painfully collided with the hard floor and stealing all the breath out of his chest. The wood beneath him gave way with a dreadful lurch and sent the pair falling nine feet into a dark basement.

His back once again collided with something solid, stone this time, and he couldn’t help but cry out in pain when something cracked. The monster had landed nearby judging by the snarling and growling, but Twilight couldn’t see a thing. His sword had skidded out of reach when he hit the ground. His possibly broken rips groaned in protest as he forced himself on his knees and fumbled with his pouch. His head pounded as he finally managed to open the clasp and retrieve his oil lamp. With shaking fingers, he managed to light it, just as the monster was on him again.

He swiftly whirled around and slammed his lamp into the monster’s face. Burning oil flew through the air, some of it landing on dark fur and setting it ablaze in a matter of seconds. The painful yowl shook him to his bones and reminded him very much of a certain incident with a storage full of explosives.

Now certainly wasn’t the time to reminisce about old times, however and Twilight scrambled back to his feet eyes scanning the now visible floor for his sword. It was lying about ten feet away. The ranch hand practically flew over, ignoring the painful sting of his rips and grabbed at the hilt. His fingers barely touched the worn leather when he was once again thrown to the ground. Clawed paws clamped around his upper arms and pinned him in place even as he squirmed and writhed under the beast. It growled at him. Half of its face was charred from the small fire and rage gleamed in six red orbs. Saliva dripping from exposed fangs and Twilight bared his own teeth at it foolishly, instinctively trying to intimidate it into leaving him alone.

The red eyes seemed to glow at his challenge. Twilight was suddenly overcome by a strange coldness. His body grew numb and unresponsive, his struggles lessened until all he could do was lay limp beneath the dangerous creature. Fear surged through the ranch hand as he willed his body to do something, anything but lie still and cold. His heart pounded heavily in his chest, the pain from his broken rips no longer noticeable. All he could do was lay there and gaze into the monster’s eyes. He was completely paralyzed.

The claws slowly released him and wandered up towards his face. It tilted his head backwards forcing his mouth to open in the process. Twilight watched in horror as a long, slimy tounge slithered out of the fanged maw. The appendage slid between his lips and entered his mouth, making him shiver in revulsion as it continued down his throat. He choked as it moved deeper and deeper and his jaw ached as it was stretched open wide. Tears sprung to his eyes. Was this how he was destined to die?

His body began growing weaker and weaker as it fed. He was dimly aware that it was taking something from it. A minute passed, and another. His vision began to darken. The lack of air was finally beginning to take its toll on his body. The monster was still slurping away above him, thoroughly enjoying seeing the light slowly fade from its victim’s eyes.

With a sudden jerk, the monster’s tounge was ripped out of his body as it was thrown of his prone form. He took in a huge gulp of air as awareness slammed back into him. He coughed and spluttered, barely noticing the warm hand cupping the back of his head and heaving his body upright. Twilight’s vision swam and he couldn’t quite make out who was crouching in front of him. Before it could clear up though, the brief burst of adrenaline that helped him bring back some air into his abused lungs disappeared and the hero dropped like a puppet with its stings cut.

Wild couldn’t quite decide whether to be relieved or worried when his mentor slumped against him, unconscious. When he and the others had caught up to Four and Twilight, it was to the smithy desperately trying to heave a heavy wooden beam away from the entrance of a collapsed house. Hearing that his mentor was inside when it did and possibly was now trapped with the monster made worry surge through his entire being. He had thrown caution into the wind and promptly placed a bomb at the entrance and disintegrated the entire beam. He was certain Time would have some choice words for him later but at that moment he really didn’t care. They had found their missing member beneath the collapsed structure, pinned under the monster and in the process of being sucked dry. Four, in an impressive show of strength, had rushed forward with a terrifying roar and _tackled_ the monster away from their friend.

He glanced over at where the others were keeping the thing busy. It was cornered. The smaller, more agile members of their group weaved in between its swiped, getting in some hits now and again while Hyrule sent spell after spell at it, cutting it off whenever it tried to flee.

The whole fight seemed very one sided but considering that it tried to eat his mentor and being simply creepy, Wild didn’t care. He turned his attention back to said mentor, looking him over for any superficial wounds and finding only small scratches and minor wounds from where it held him down. He seemed fine for the moment and that was enough for him.

The beast yowled in agony as more and more wounds littered its body, slowing it down considerably. The ground beneath it was starting to turn dark red and slippery. It tried flinging the Hylians away with its tail, but only succeeded in having the appendage cut off completely. In one last attempt to flee, it surged towards Sky, probably thinking him already injured and therefore weaker than the rest. But said hero wasn’t as easy a target as he would seem and just when the monster was an arm’s reach away, he brought up the Master Sword. The holy blade pierced through its jaw and up through its head. It stopped short, jerkily trying to remove the sword, gurgling as blood filled its mouth, ran down its throat and threatened to choke it. The heroes watched with impassive eyes as the glowing eyes turned dull and one last breath left its lungs as it hung limply from the sword.

Sky let the monster slide off the blade and drop to the ground in a bloody heap. He let out a relieved sigh. This night was over and most of them had come out of it with minor injuries.

Hyrule had already gone back to Twilight’s side, poking and prodding him, looking for any serious injuries.

“Thank fuck that’s over!” Wind exclaimed, ignoring the pointed look from Warriors. “How’s the ranch hand?”

“It’s not too bad,” the Traveler told them, noticing how some tension left their collective shoulders. “He has at least one broken rip, though, so we probably should get back to the inn so it can be looked at properly.”

Time nodded and scooped up his pup onto his back with Wild’s help. “Let’s get going, then. I’m sure the people will be glad to know that this nightmare finally has come to an end.”

The other heroes trailed after their leader, tired end exhausted and more than looking forward to fall into the soft beds awaiting them at the inn. Warriors suddenly snorted. “I’m never letting Twi live down that he practically made out with a disgusting monster.” Up front, Time rolled his eye at the Captain’s childishness. But at the same time, his pup’s reaction would most certainly be highly amusing.

In the end, the people were incredibly grateful to the heroes. The innkeeper fluttered around them like a mother hen upon seeing them return all weary and dirty and somewhat battered.

Twilight slept for a whole two days. He was still wobbly on his feet but stubbornly refused to stay down and was already graced with Warrior’s overly detailed and out of proportion version of what happened, which earned the Captain a punch to the face. He took it gracefully, though. “Worth it,” was all he said when asked by Sky why he felt the need to tease their ranch hand, all the while sitting on a chair with his head tilted back to stem the blood flow from he newly broken nose that Hyrule refused to treat.

Time had also taken the time to lecture his pup about following simple instructions like not splitting up when there was something around that hunted people when split up. Four had only been given ‘the Look’ when claiming he hadn’t noticed the older hero slip away and when he had, the house had already collapsed. 

All the while, Wild had gleefully used his momentary freedom of Twilight’s hovering to go out and explore with Wind and Hyrule. Which had earned him a fractured arm at the end of the day and a double lecture by Time and Twilight respectively, who had pointedly ignored the pouch of rupees changing owners from Warriors to Legend in the background.

All in all, just another normal day for our heroes.

**Author's Note:**

> This went from a serious fic to an almost crack? I don't even know what this is anymore...  
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
